News

7 Brexit promises that have already been abandoned

7 Brexit promises that have already been abandoned

As soon as we voted to Leave the EU, the phrase "post-truth" started to be thrown about a lot more, assisted in part by a certain national embarrassment running for US president.

It's probably fair to say the Leave campaign may have had something to do with this - campaign promises were literally abandoned the morning after the Brexit vote.

Just to remind you, here's what those who campaigned to Leave are really hoping people will shut up about.

1. Brexit would mean £350m extra per week for the NHS

See the controversial bus at the top of this article. The figure has been repeatedly debunked as an outright lie.

Nigel Farage told Good Morning Britain after the Brexit vote:

[It was] a mistake... It wasn’t one of my adverts.

To be fair, Farage's campaign was Grassroots Out.

But, the denial of the figure was not the tune he was singing prior to the vote.

2. That it would reduce the amount of migration to the UK

You may remember Farage's adverts...

Picture: Getty Images

Brexit leaders quickly backed away from claims that the result would reduce migration.

Tory MEP Dan Hannan told Newsnight:

We never said there was going to be some radical decline ... we want a measure of control.

Immigration is predicted to surge in the opposite direction in coming months.

3. That the economy wouldn't be affected

Vote Leave's Michael Gove, Boris Johnson and Gisela Stuart had promised on their official site that after a Brexit vote there would not be "a sudden change that disrupts the economy".

The pound tumbled and the economy contracted 0.2 per cent, according to leading economists.

4. That our research and science could expect the same funding

Many cases have already been detailed of UK scientists being dropped from EU-funded projects because funding cannot be guaranteed.

EU universities have been issuing warnings against UK involvement in collaboration, while the government's chief scientist Sir Mark Walport has recognised the referendum result left researchers deeply upset.

Scientific leaders have been calling for reassurances of the original commitments by Leave campaigners to match EU funding until 2020.

5. That we'd save money on energy bills

Vote Leave said that we can end VAT on household energy bills.

Well, we can - but the energy is going to be more expensive regardless because it's predominately imported and we've now got less funding for energy development.

6. That Turkey is close to joining the EU and thus five million more migrants are coming to the UK

Er, this seems unlikely to happen any time soon - there was a rather large recent coup attempt and even before that Erdogan hinted that he might not want to continue with the EU application anyway.

7. That we'd 'take back control'

Leave campaigner Michael Gove (remember him?) said during the Sky News referendum debates:

Unelected, unaccountable elites, I’m afraid it’s time to say, ‘You’re fired. We are going to take back control.'

Theresa May is now our Prime Minister.

Picture: Kerry Davies - WPA Pool/Getty Images

More: The Mail has explained what Brexit means and its readers seem shocked

More: 8 of the most misleading promises of the Vote Leave campaign, ranked in order of preposterousness

The Conversation (0)
x